REVIEW | Rooftop Renegade

Rooftop Renegade review | Melonhead Games debuts its first game with Rooftop Renegade and it immediately sets a high standard. In this beautiful 2D game you try to escape Globacorp by skating over rooftops at high speed. You as the player will need to use all your skill and reflexes to escape the levels in the fastest time possible. Our fruit head studio didn’t go for the most original gameplay but they did an excellent job of creating something fun. So far it is definitely one of my favorite indie games from 2023!

What we Liked!

• Repetitive but fun gameplay | The core gameplay of Rooftop Renegade is a very repetitive one. It’s like playing a Dynasty Warriors game, you are constantly doing the same thing. That’s not a dealbreaker for me though, as the gameplay is fun and challenging. You will time your jumps, platform your way through speed boosters and use evading moves to dodge Globacorp. All of that is heavily skill-based and a bit of luck is required too. It feels incredible to dodge a last-minute hazard with your teleport ability, knowing when to use every ability is key to reaching the best possible times. You can endlessly play this game thanks to the generator that randomly creates new levels, more variation would have been welcome for that but the feature is wonderful to have.

• It looks decent! | Rooftop Renegade’s skilled parkouring female is nicely animated. She glides and jumps on high apartment buildings on bright neon rails. As you can see on the screenshots, the backgrounds are a bit blurry but that helps with the speed sensation. Effects are literally everywhere with explosions and electrified sparks and the Xbox Series X doesn’t have a single issue in keeping up with performance. You have two camera options, with the up-close camera showing some great details. I highly recommend the second camera though. This gives a better view of what’s coming and when Globacorp is going to fire on hazards in front of you. I found the little soldiers firing at my protagonist adorable, sadly they won’t be getting any promotions soon as their aim sucked. The biggest accomplishment of the visuals is that you can easily recognize possibilities, in a split-second you know when you can boost on speed pads, or jump higher with wind trampolines. Important parts on the level have a purple glow, like gems and rails that deactivate attacks from Globacorp. I was pleasantly surprised about the visual package.

Mixed Feelings

• More variety would have been welcome | I’m aware this is asking a lot from Melonhead Games, Rooftop Renegade is an indie game after all. I did miss more variety in gameplay and environments, this kind of gameplay concept could have had more depth or unique locations. Or simply a different playable character would have been a solution to bring a bit more meaningful content. The generator tool helps with creating more tracks but when the environment options are only handful you can’t expect a lot of replay value.

• Progression | I can’t call it a story mode but you have to pass 24 levels to finish the campaign mode. During that adventure, you learn new moves to reach faster times and visit a few different locations. Each level is split into three rankings, depending on your completed time. Your task is to reach an S-ranking at each level, your scores depend on your crystal power (gems) and how fast you manage to reach the finishing line. I missed more story elements or general rewards for playing this mode but I guess they wanted to go for an arcade feel. Besides the 24 levels, you also have 8 character levels, which increase with EXP that you earn from completing levels, each player level will unlock additional load-outs that improve your chance to finish with faster times.

What we Disliked

• Nothing!

How long to beat the story | 3 hours
How long to achieve 1000G | 10 hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | OlliOlli

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